“Dedos que condenam”: os linchamentos simbólicos frente ao princípio da presunção de inocência em tempos de internet

Abstract

The internet brought a lot of benefits and new opportunities to a contemporary way of life, specially affording more interaction and communication. This scenario presents dangers coming from the network society, as seen in the degradation of human rights from the speeches spread in the virtual social networks and the strength given to an ideal of “justice with their own hands”. The following research questions what’s the role played by law in face of the relativization of the presumption of innocence through online symbolic lynching in times of internet? To answer the problem, it’s used the hypothetic-deductive approach method, because the work brings as hypothesis the occurrence of those virtual symbolic lynching as one of the ways to relativize the principle already mentioned. About the procedure method, it has been explored the monographic and the statistic. Regarding research techniques, the bibliographical, documental and empirical are used together. The last one is based on a direct and non-participative observation of a news story about Pedro Henrique Gonzaga’s case, published on Facebook. The research is divided in two chapters: the first brings the criminality as a media product, understanding the evolution of the theme from television media to virtual media. The second one studies the legal and social consequences to certain discursive practices towards a network society. It’s possible to conclude that brazilian society has its structures based on feelings of fear and hate towards the “outlaw”, but this scenario only aims to mask the racial prejudice that still applies in the today’s social formation. The idea that certain people deserve cruel penalties and, if possible, death, only shows an inquisitorial mindset that’s familiar to Brazil. The internet, due to its immediacy, ends up being the ideal environment to spread speeches and actions, creating a virtual symbolic lynching. It’s up to the Law to stand against the relativization of the presumption of innocence that occurs in social media, seeking to preserve rights that matters to civility and, in case of not doing as such, barbarism will find its strength.